Tuesday, October 11, 2011

I keep waiting for publishers, editors, and authors to come to the defense of St. Mark's Bookshop, so I was glad to see that Lorin Stein, editor of The Paris Review, has stepped up with support.

In a blog post he writes, "The staff don’t just select the stock, they proselytize on its behalf and, in their small way, help hold the neighborhood together." He reports that the bookstore sells more copies of The Paris Review than most cities, and more than the journal's own website. Says Stein, "New York needs bookstores, too, or it will no longer be New York."

To help out, The Paris Review is now offering "a special discount to St. Mark’s patrons...when you buy a copy of our fall issue at St. Mark’s, you’ll receive a coupon good for 25% off a one-year subscription to The Paris Review, starting with our next issue (it’s good for T-shirts, tote bags, and mugs, too). It’s our way of saying thank you for supporting this beloved East Village institution!"

So go for it. And buy a book in there, too, while you're at it. The fight is not yet over.

Also I should tell you that the author won't be getting a dime from the sale of '100 Whores' all profits are going to St Marks Bookshop. There are about five copies left. Read about the girls/whores who thronged 3rd ave between 12th and 14th streets in the 60s and 70s, not far from St Marks Bookshop. Let me tell you the author survived and you will too.

"Jeremiah Moss does an excellent job of cataloging all that’s constantly being sacrificed to the god of rising rents." --Hugo Lindgren, New York Times Magazine

"No one takes stock of New York's changes with the same mixture of snark, sorrow, poeticism, and lyric wit as Jeremiah Moss... Even as the changes he's cataloging break our hearts a little, it's that kind of lovely, precise writing that makes Moss's blog essential reading." --Village Voice, Best of NY

“Jeremiah Moss…is the defender of all the undistinguished hunks of masonry that lend the streets their rhythm.” --Justin Davidson, New York Magazine

"One of the most thorough and pugnacious chroniclers of New York’s blandification." --The Atlantic, Citylab